Cycling the Bay Area & Stories from the Garden

The wheat, the chaff, and the sorting table

The past two days have been spent looking up information about avocados, their origins, types, history, etc., so that I could better grasp what I am getting myself into. Well, there was also that little Winter Solstice Holiday Celebration event somewhere in the middle, but I did do a lot of reading in the non-family event related times.

|start rant| As you may suspect, or are already painfully aware of, the internet is a very sharp double-edged sword. There are untold volumes of information on practically any subject one wishes to pursue, which generally is a good thing.

Unfortunately, there is no requirement that the good folks of the world-wide-web post only reasonable data with some semblance of truth or fact backing their input. Combined with the fact that there exists no system (reasonable or otherwise) which acts as a global fact checker for all of the random pearls of wisdom, supposedly solid facts, wild off-the-cuff opinions, and other missives of plain old crap which are deposited unto the web every second. In other words; there is A LOT of chaff left in the wheat bin when it’s shipped out to an unsuspecting world! Buyer Beware!! |end rant|

Some of the data I found interesting and useful included:

The University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (a statewide network of University of California researchers and educators dedicated to the creation, development and application of knowledge in agricultural, natural and human resources), has a whole team of researches who work solely on the lowly avocado

There are three general categories which avocados fall under; the West Indian, the Guatemalan, and the Mexican varieties – the Hass falls into both the Guatemalan and Mexican varieties. Avocados grown in Florida are generally of the West Indian variety. NOTE: I am not including hybrids in the three general categories, as the source I obtained the information from does not include hybrids as a separate category.

Hass avocados absolutely dominate the retail market, according to the Hass Avocado Board’s State of the Category report for 2009, the Hass avocado led the category with a national 3-year average of over 90% of the total retail sales and volume.

2009 total retail volume of avocados sold in the United States was 1,060,214,068 pounds. Of those avocados, 85% are imported from either Mexico (661,532,680 lbs) or Chile (239,336, 276 lbs), only 15% of avocados sold in the United States are grown in California (159,345,112 lbs)

I found the last point to be the most interesting. I live in California, and think of the avocado as a California product. I say that statistic alone speaks volumes to the popularity of the Hass variety.

Did you know that every single Hass avocado that you eat, can directly trace their heritage back to a single known tree? Well, they can, the tree was simply known as, The Mother Tree, she started life in 1926 in La Habra Heights, California, by mail-carrier and amateur horticulturist, Rudolph Hass. Sadly she succumbed to root rot at the ripe old age of 76 in 2002, but leaves a legacy that stretches clear across the globe. Not too bad Momma!!

Another interesting statistic I came across was that of all of those avocados, only 2% of the total volume are certified as Organic. Astonishing!!

However, I have a theory that this may relate directly to the dismal results in growing fruiting trees. I am working the angle that there may be a link between the organic avocados, and the sparse report of success in growing a tree which fruits. I think a little bit of a deeper dive into the fruiting trees, and their source, may also end up with fruitful results.

I will post more as my data develops, and as my plants grow. The weather here in Northern California seems to have stalled their growth to a trickle, so the pictures are not having the dramatic changes as their first two months. I will still be posting new photos as the subtler changes occur.

Hi Tracy! I made a pretty mean avocado mayonnaise, avocado pizza, and of course, numerous varieties of guacamole!

I have been moving the last couple of days, so, not too active here, I hate moving, but, I think this move will last for a number of years!

The avo’s plants are doing well, I will be bringing them to the new place tomorrow, they have a large sunny full size window to enjoy, and a patio in the summertime to grow. Will dig up the recipes for the avo maynaisse (i made it up from a number of sources), and my vegan avo pizza, is delish!